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The purpose of this paper is to eliminate Part defects and enrich additive manufacturing of ceramics. Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) experiments were carried to investigate the effects of laser parameters and selective oxidation of Titanium (mixed with TiO₂) on the microstructure, surface quality and melting state of Titania. The causes of several L-PBF parts defects were thoroughly analyzed.

Laser power and scanning speed were varied within a specific range (50–125 W and 170–200 mm/s, respectively). Furthermore, varying loads of Ti (1%, 3%, 5% and 15%) were mixed with TiO₂, which was selectively oxidized with laser beam in the presence of oxygen environment.

Part defects such as cracks, pores and uneven grains growth were widely reduced in TiO₂ L-PBF specimens. Increasing the laser power and decreasing the scanning speed shown significant improvements in the surface morphology of TiO₂ ceramics. The amount of Ti material was fully melted and simultaneously changed into TiO₂ by the application of the laser beam. The selective oxidation of Ti material also improved the melting condition, microstructure and surface quality of the specimens.

TiO₂ ceramic specimens were produced through L-PBF process. Increasing the laser power and decreasing the scanning speed is an effective way to sufficiently melt the powders and reduce parts defects. Selective oxidation of Ti by a high power laser beam approach was used to improve the manufacturability of TiO₂ specimens.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate effects of layer thickness on densification, surface morphology, microstructure and mechanical and corrosion properties of 420 stainless steel fabricated by laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF).

Standard specimens were printed at layer thickness of 10, 20 and 30 µm to characterize Archimedes density, surface roughness, tensile strength, elongation, hardness, microstructural phases and corrosion performance in the as-printed and heat-treated condition.

Archimedes density slightly increased from 7.67 ± 0.02 to 7.70 ± 0.02g/cm³ and notably decreased to 7.35 ± 0.05 g/cm³ as the layer thickness was changed from 20 µm to 10 and 30 µm, respectively. The sensitivity to layer thickness variation was also evident in properties, the ultimate tensile strength of as-printed parts increased from 1050 ± 25 MPa to 1130 ± 35 MPa and decreased to 760 ± 35 MPa, elongation increased from 2.5 ± 0.2% to 2.8 ± 0.3% and decreased to 1.5 ± 0.2, and hardness increased from 55 ± 1 HRC to 57 ± 1 HRC and decreased to 51 ± 1 HRC, respectively. Following heat treatment, the ultimate tensile strength and elongation improved but the general trends of effects of layer thickness remained the same.

Properties obtained by L-PBF are superior to reported properties of 420 stainless steel fabricated by metal injection molding and comparable to wrought properties.

This study successfully the sensitivity of mechanical and corrosion properties of the as-printed and heat-treated parts to not only physical density but also microstructure (martensite content and tempering), as a result of changing the layer thickness. This manuscript also demonstrates porosity evolution as a combination of reduced energy flux and lower packing density for parts processed at an increasing layer thickness.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the developments in manufacturing soft magnetic materials using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF).

Ternary soft magnetic Fe-49Co-2V powder was produced by gas atomization and used in an L-PBF machine to produce samples for material characterization. The L-PBF process parameters were optimized for the material, using a design of experiments approach. The printed samples were exposed to different heat treatment cycles to improve the magnetic properties. The magnetic properties were measured with quasi-static direct current and alternating current measurements at different frequencies and magnetic flux densities. The mechanical properties were characterized with tensile tests. Electrical resistivity of the material was measured.

The optimized L-PBF process parameters resulted in very low porosity. The magnetic properties improved greatly after the heat treatments because of changes in microstructure. Based on the quasi-static DC measurement results, one of the heat treatment cycles led to magnetic saturation, permeability and coercivity values comparable to a commercial Fe-Co-V alloy. The other heat treatments resulted in abnormal grain growth and poor magnetic performance. The AC measurement results showed that the magnetic losses were relatively high in the samples owing to formation of eddy currents.

The influence of L-PBF process parameters on the microstructure was not investigated; hence, understanding the relationship between process parameters, heat treatments and magnetic properties would require more research.

The relationship between microstructure, chemical composition, heat treatments, resistivity and magnetic/mechanical properties of L-PBF processed Fe-Co-V alloy has not been reported previously.

The purpose of this paper is to detail the design and first use of a force transducer device to study the development of forces during the laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process from which residual stresses can be inferred.

The proposed novel device consists of an array of load cells for in-situ measurement of forces over time during the L-PBF additive manufacturing process. Measurements of the developed forces layer by layer were recorded in a first build using a 67-degree rotating scan strategy using Inconel 625 build material.

Preliminary experimental results from in-situ measurements using a 67-degree rotating scan strategy showed that the forces induced in the first five layers represented approximately 80% of the maximum on completion of the build and were distributed such as to induce concave deformation of the part, i.e. tension in the centre and compression at the edges of the part.

This paper describes a novel device for in-process measurement of the spatial distribution and time-varying nature of the forces induced during the L-PBF process as well as an evaluation of the residual forces following the completion of the build.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the microstructural evolution of high-strength 2024 Al alloy prepared by the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) route. The high-strength wrought Al alloy has typically been unsuitable for AM due to its particular solidification characteristics such as hot cracking, porosity and columnar grain growth.

In this research work, samples were fabricated using L-PBF under various laser energy densities by varying laser power and scan speed. The microstructural features that developed during the solidification are correlated with operating laser parameters. In addition, finite element modelling (FEM) was performed to understand the experimentally observed results.

Microstructure evolution and defect formation have been assessed, quantified and correlated with operating laser parameters. Thermal behaviour of samples was predicted using FEM to support experimental observations. An optimised combination of intermediate laser power and scan speed produced the least defects. Higher energy density increased hot tearing along the columnar grain boundaries, while lower energy density promoted void formation. From the quantitative results, it is evident that with increasing energy density, both the top surface and side wall roughness initially reduced till a minimum and then increased. Hardness and compressive strength were found to decrease with increasing power density due to stress relaxation from hot tearing.

This research work examined how L-PBF processing conditions influence the microstructure, defects, surface roughness and mechanical properties. The results indicates that complete elimination of solidification cracks can be only achieved by combining process optimisation and possible grain refining strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an approach in measuring the shielding gas flow within laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) machines under near-process conditions (regarding oxygen content and shielding gas flow).

The measurements are made sequentially using a hot-wire anemometer. After a short introduction into the measurement technique, the system which places the measurement probe within the machine is described. Finally, the measured shielding gas flow of a commercial L-PBF machine is presented.

An approach to measure the shielding gas flow within SLM machines has been developed and successfully tested. The use of a thermal anemometer along with an automated probe-placement system enables the space-resolved measurement of the flow speed and its turbulence.

The used single-normal (SN) hot-wire anemometer does not provide the flow vectors’ orientation. Using a probe with two or three hot-films and an improved placement system will provide more information about the flow and less disturbance to it.

A measurement system which allows the measurement of the shielding gas flow within commercial L-PBF machines is presented. This enables the correlation of the shielding gas flow with the resulting parts’ quality.

Quantitative understanding of the temperatures, gradients and heating/cooling rates in and around the melt pool in laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is essential for simulation, monitoring and controls development. The research presented here aims to detail experiment design and preliminary results of high speed, high magnification, in-situ thermographic monitoring setup on a commercial L-PBF system designed to capture temperatures and dynamic process phenomena.

A custom door with angled viewport was designed for a commercial L-PBF system which allows close access of an infrared camera. Preliminary finite element simulations provided size, speed and scale requirements to design camera and optics setup to capture melt pool region temperatures at high magnification and frame rate speed. A custom thermal calibration allowed maximum measurable temperature range of 500°C to 1,025°C. Raw thermographic image data were converted to temperature assuming an emissivity of 0.5. Quantitative temperature results are provided with qualitative observations with discussion regarding the inherent challenges to future thermographic measurements and process monitoring.

Isotherms around the melt pool change in size depending on the relative location of the laser spot with respect to the stripe edges. Locations near the edges of a stripe are cooled to lower temperatures than the center of a stripe. Temperature gradients are highly localized because of rough or powdery surface. At a specific location, temperatures rise from below the measurable temperature range to above (<550°C to >1100°C) within two frames (<1.11 m/s). Particle ejection is a notable phenomenon with measured ejection speeds >11.7 m/s.

Several works are detailed in the Introduction of this paper that detail high-speed visible imaging (not thermal imaging) of custom or commercial LBPF processes, and lower-speed thermographic measurements for defect detection. However, no work could be found that provides calibrated, high-speed temperature data from a melt-pool monitoring configuration on a commercial L-PBF system. In addition, the paper elucidates several sources of measurement uncertainty (e.g. calibration, emissivity and time and spatial resolution), describes inherent measurement challenges based on observations of the thermal images and discusses on the implications to model validation and process monitoring and control.

For the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technology, the side surface quality is essentially important for industrial applicated parts, such as the inner flow parts. Contour is generally adopted at the parts’ outline to enhance the side surface quality. However, the side surface roughness (Ra) is still larger than 10 microns even with contour in previous studies. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of contour process parameters, laser power and scanning velocity on the side surface quality of the AlSi10Mg sample.

Using L-PBF technology to manufacture AlSi10Mg samples under different contour process parameters, use a laser confocal microscope to capture the surface information of the samples, and obtain the surface roughness Ra and the maximum surface height Rz of each sample after analysis and processing.

The results show that the side surface roughness decreases with the increase of the laser power at the fixed scanning velocity of 1,000 mm/s, the side surface roughness Ra stays within the error range as the contour velocity increases. It is found that the Ra increases with the scanning velocity increasing and the greater the laser power with the greater Ra increases when the laser power of contour process parameters is 300 W, 350 W and 400 W. The Rz maintain growth with the contour scanning velocity increasing at constant laser power. The continuous uniform contour covers the pores in the molten pool of the sample edge and thus increase the density of the sample. Two mechanisms named “Active adhesion” and “Passive adhesion” cause sticky powder.

Formation of a uniform and even contour track is key to obtain the good side surface quality. The side surface quality is determined by the uniformity and stability of the contour track when the layer thickness is fixed. These research results can provide helpful guidance to improve the surface quality of L-PBF manufactured parts.

This paper aims to present the development and experimental study of a fully automated system using a novel laser additive manufacturing technology called laser foil printing (LFP), to fabricate metal parts layer by layer. The mechanical properties of parts fabricated with this novel system are compared with those of comparable methodologies to emphasize the suitability of this process.

Test specimens and parts with different geometries were fabricated from 304L stainless steel foil using an automated LFP system. The dimensions of the fabricated parts were measured, and the mechanical properties of the test specimens were characterized in terms of mechanical strength and elongation.

The properties of parts fabricated with the automated LFP system were compared with those of parts fabricated with the powder bed fusion additive manufacturing methods. The mechanical strength is higher than those of parts fabricated by the laser powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition technologies.

To the best knowledge of authors, this is the first time a fully automated LFP system has been developed and the properties of its fabricated parts were compared with other additive manufacturing methods for evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of printing strategies and processing parameters on wall thickness, microhardness and compression strength of Inconel 718 superalloy thin-walled honeycomb lattice structures manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF).

Two printing contour strategies were applied for producing thin-walled honeycomb lattice structures in which the laser power, contour path, scanning speed and beam offset were systematically modified. The specimens were analyzed by optical microscopy for dimensional accuracy. Vickers hardness and quasi-static uniaxial compression tests were performed on the specimens with the least difference between the design wall thickness and the as built one to evaluate their mechanical properties and compare them with the counterparts obtained by using standard print strategies.

The contour printing strategies and process parameters have a significant influence on reducing the fabrication time of thin-walled honeycomb lattice structures (up to 50%) and can lead to improve the manufacturability and dimensional accuracy. Also, an increase in the young modulus up to 0.8 times and improvement in the energy absorption up to 48% with respect to those produced by following a standard strategy was observed.

This study showed that printing contour strategies can be used for faster fabrication of thin-walled lattice honeycomb structures with similar mechanical properties than those obtained by using a default printing strategy.